Microsoft backtracks and says it will still accept bitcoin

Microsoft has responded to reports that it would stop accepting bitcoin in its digital stores, saying that they were "inaccurate".

Microsoft posted a statement entitled "Microsoft Store doesn't accept bitcoin". But according to an update from the company, the page was posting in error, and their policy on bitcoin remains the same.

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It introduced the ability to pay for goods in both the Windows and Xbox stores in 2014 after striking a deal with payment processor BitPay.

Users are able to trade using bitcoin and add value to their accounts. At the time, corporate vice president of the Microsoft Store described the move as an attempt to "give people options...and help them do more on their devices and in the cloud".

. "We expect this growth to continue and allowing people to use bitcoin to purchase our products and services now allows us to be at the front edge of that trend."

Microsoft has now taken down its original statement, and said in a new statement that it will "continue to support bitcoin". "We continue to support bitcoin for adding money to your Microsoft account which can be used for purchasing content in the Windows and Xbox stores," it said. "We apologise for inaccurate information that was inadvertently posted to a Microsoft site, which is currently being corrected."